Fanatic 05 - Orc Playbook

8/9/2019 Fanatic 05 - Orc Playbook

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Since that time Blood Bowl has been played by thousands of

coaches worldwide and the rules themselves have been

developed further, following feedback from enthusiasts

everywhere, culminating in the current living rulebook. With

the rules changes and modifications that have been made itseemed appropriate to revisit my previous ruminations.

I hope the following article goes some way to helping budding

new Orc coaches (and a few seasoned ones) take their ‘Green

Dream Teams’ onto the hallowed turf and well-deserved

victory. (Of course they deserve to win, “touched by Nuffle

himself, they is; green as da turf itself!”).

No matter what team you use when playing Blood Bowl you

quickly notice that each team has its own strengths and

weaknesses. Elves are agile but lightly armoured, Dwarfs are

slow but good at blocking and Orcs? …well, they pack a punch

in a fight, but that’s not all!

Back in 1993/94 I was involved in the playtesting and

development of the third edition of Blood Bowl and during

that period I played with a fairly successful Orc team getting to

the semi and/or final stages of all of the major tournaments in

the Studio league. I also wrote a tactics article that was

featured in White Dwarf magazine and looked at general Orc

tactics, including a few optional plays for Orc coaches to try

out.

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Or “Duffing ’em up good an’ propa!”By Carl Brown

Orc Playbook

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TEAM SELECTION & PLAY STYLE

If you’re going to be playing in a league you should

consider how you want your team to develop. The Orcs

have one of the most versatile rosters in the game with

access to hard-hitting Blockers and Blitzers, nimble

Goblins and a huge selection of Star Players (for

Freebooting purposes).

The options available on the Orc roster mean that you can

take your team one of two ways: Da Fighty team or Da

Cunnin’ team.

GAME FORMATS

There are three distinct formats for playing Blood Bowl.

The first is one-off games ‘out of the box’ style; this sort of

play generally uses whatever models are in the boxed

game and is played by casual gamers every now and again.

If this describes you then this article may well be useful,

but to gain maximum benefit you should really play in a

league, even if it’s just you and a mate running two teams

each (there’s so much fun that you miss by not running a

team over a series of games).

The second is league play which the majority of this article

is about.

The third is tournament play. With the growing popularity

of Blood Bowl more and more tournaments are springing

up every year and the style of play during these events

often differs slightly from those used in an ongoing

league. I’ll touch on this at the end of the article.

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Did you know...

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DA FIGHTY TEAM

The most common Orc team is the grinding, running play,

‘fighty’ team. As I mentioned in the introduction, Orcs pack

a punch in a fight and with four each of Black Orcs (ST4) andBlitzers (Block) available, combined with a high Armour

Value (AV), you can quickly put together a formidable front

line. Throw in a Troll and you’re really going to be dealing

out some pain to your opposition. In the early stages of a

league, ‘fighty’ Orc teams can be hugely successful. Their

high AV protects them through even the fiercest line of

scrimmage battles and the Blitzers can quickly start to rack

up Star Player Points (SPPs) through Touchdowns (TDs) and

casualties.

If you like this kind of team then getting all of your Black

Orcs on the roster as early as possible is a must, as they are

going to have a slow progression with SPPs – gaining them

mostly from casualties.

A good starting team selection for a ‘fighty team’ is: 3 Black

Orcs, 3 Blitzers, 2 Throwers, 4 Linemen, 2 Re-rolls, 6 Fan

Factor. This line-up gives you a good solid front line with

which to batter your opposition, two good ball carriers

(Throwers with Sure Hands skill) and a Fan Factor high

enough to ensure you earn reasonable money to buy new

players and Re-rolls with. Adding a Troll as early as possible

helps to toughen up an already hard front line.

One downside to playing with a team solely devoted to

battering the opposition to a bloody pulp is that your tactics

can be a little one dimensional. On offence, you gather the

ball, put it in a protective pocket (or cage) of players and

slowly pummel your way to a 7 or 8 down Touchdown. (See

Stalling or Clock Management). On defence, you should try

and work a Blitzer or two into position to sack the opposite

ball carrier. If your opponent is a throwing team then it’s also

wise to keep a Blitzer in your backfield to use as ‘cover’ for

taking out any receivers that break into your backfield.

Unfortunately for you as the league progresses the other

teams will also gain skills and extra players. You can soon

find yourself facing an Elf or Skaven team which quickly

dodges from your players leaving you with a single Blitz

action each turn to cause damage with – not an ideal

situation for a ‘fighty’ team. A good way to counter this

eventuality is to have an ample sprinkling of Tackle skill

(more on skills later).

STALLING, OR CLOCK MANAGEMENT

A subject that often causes heated discussion in the Blood Bowl community is the slow grinding 7-8 down drive. The

objective is to score a TD while leaving your opposition no time to respond before the end of the half. The part that

can cause arguments is if a team gets to the End Zone early and stops or stalls with the ball, forms a defensive shield

around the ball carrier and then proceeds to run the clock down, scoring on the final down.

Whether this is an issue for you or not depends on your gaming group. Personally I don’t have a problem with it and

the players that I play with all see it as an acceptable tactic.

Our view is that it’s one of many tactics – deal with it! Even throwing play specialists do the same thing – just with a

slight variation. Instead of carrying the ball to within one or two squares of the End Zone and stopping they simply

hold the ball way back from trouble for several turns in the hands of their Thrower. He stands deep in his own half

until a clean ‘Touchdown pass’ presents itself then moves up to release the ball and the team scores a TD, leaving

slower teams little or no time to respond. The stalling tactic has both benefits and risks for whoever tries it.

The key thing for Orcs is that slow, grinding plays give ample opportunity to smash the opposite team up so that they

can’t put up much of a fight in the second half. The risk is that if you make a mistake during your slow advance and

your opponent grabs the ball you may find yourself in the position where you can’t respond quick enough – so you’d

better learn to do it right!

But hey! This article is for Orc coaches so who cares what the opposition thinks? Use the slow drive if you really want

to dish out some pain.

“Smash ’em up, and Zog ’em if dey don’t like it!”

Did you know...

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DA CUNNIN’ TEAM

The second style of Orc team (and my personal favourite) is

da cunnin’ team.

The benefit of the Orc roster is the high number of 0-4

entries. Not only can you have loads of tough guys you can

also have up to four Goblins. On the face of it the average

Goblin isn’t much to look at, but with the inclusion of a Troll

they suddenly become a ‘special play’. The second style of

Orc team follows a slightly different path from the ‘fighty’

team. Sure, you need to utilise the power and strength of the

Black Orcs and Blitzers but, by including Goblins with a Troll

(just remember to put someone next to him before he does

anything) you open up a whole new avenue of tactical

options – ‘Dat’s cunnin’ dat is!’

You can be very flexible with your tactics when playing with

this type of team; it has muscle but isn’t as tightly focussed as

a ‘fighty’ team. In general it is quicker (the Goblins combined

with the Blitzers) and much more difficult for your opponent

to predict – you have more play options.

A good starting line-up would be: 2 Black Orcs, 2 Blitzers, 1

Troll, 4 Linemen, 1 Thrower, 3 Goblins, 2 Re-rolls, 7 Fan

Factor. This gives you a good foundation on which to build a

flexible team able to ‘fight it out’ or utilise the ‘pass option’

as the need arises.

You may find that this team is slow to get going and it’s not

always as effective in the early stages of a league as the ‘fighty’

team, but stick with it. Once you have a few skills scattered

throughout the team you’ll have excellent play options to

keep your team competitive through even the longest of

seasons.

GENERAL GAME PLAY

Versus Low AV, High AG

So how do you actually use Orcs on the field of play then?

Well, when facing the fast, low AV, high AG teams, such as

Elves & Skaven, you’ve got to face facts – they’re going to

score.

Now before you throw this article down in disgust and start

yelling “this guy obviously doesn’t do defence” (expletives

removed) let me run the last bit of that sentence by you again

with a few extra details.

“ …you’ve got to face facts – they’re going to score... once...

maybe.”

When you’re playing with an Orc team and you come up

against a team which is quicker, more agile and, well,

basically better at playing with the ball than you, you have to

be prepared for them to score.

With that in mind you can prepare a game plan that won’t fall

apart (have you stressing out) if the opposition grab a quick

TD in the early stages of the game. When you’re on offence,

Wood Elf coaches will have Wardancers leaping over your

lines and heading for the ball either before you’ve picked it

up or just as you get it. Skaven players will have a pack of

Gutter Runners swarming after the ball through any tiny gap

KEY PLAYER FOCUS: GOBLINS?

Despite their diminutive stature Goblins really are great little players when included in an Orc team.

Goblins can be ‘groomed’ (though you’ll need to wear gloves) to become your catchers. Seeing as they already start

with Dodge and Stunty you’ve got a nimble little critter that just needs Catch to make your opponent pay more

attention to him sneaking down the sidelines.

On defence if you have several Goblins on your team you can send them through the opponent’s lines to ‘team up’

and hunt down the ball carrier. Alternatively you can use their useful Dodge skill to get them into position to add that

all important assist or nip in and deliver a nasty foul action on opponent’s key players after the Black Orcs have

knocked them down.

A particularly sneaky ploy when facing an opposing cage (usually against Dwarfs, Chaos or Undead) is to throw the

Goblin into the cage. Target an empty square next to the ball carrier, your Troll will most likely miss the throw so the

Goblin will scatter into a different square, potentially hitting an opposing player. This has a good chance of opening

up the cage for your Blitzers to exploit and sack the ball carrier. The Goblin may well get injured in this play, but hey!

Who cares? There are plenty more where he came from.

Goblins can also be used as a great diversion to pull opposition players away from defending against your running play

– threatening the Pass action as they dodge their way into range of the End Zone.

And obviously there’s the straight 1 down TD, Throw Team-mate play – you know what that is so I’ll not go into it in

detail (okay it’s risky, but it can work sometimes).

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This line-up gives you two players in position to reach both

corners of the field to collect the ball if necessary. Whichever

direction the ball ends up going in you can use the player not

going for the ball to protect the player that does. The rest of the team is set up to be able to react to a fast strike on your

ball carrier while maintaining a formation that can quickly

form a protective pocket (cage) around the ball and drive

downfield in a running play.

If you’re really struggling by Turn 2 and the agile players are

all over your ball carrier I’d suggest taking a deep breath and

then giving them a good kicking. Don’t worry too much

about clearing the ball out of the Danger Zone – they’re

quick and agile remember! They’ll bring the ball right back in

no time if you throw it upfield and fail a catch. Worse still, if

you fumble and have the ball at your feet they’ll stand a good

chance of picking it up even in tackle zones. So, bearing in

mind that they may score on down 2 or 3, try to take out the

danger men that are causing you so much trouble now – they

might score but it’ll cost them 2-3 players to do it.

Worse case scenario. For the sake of argument let’s say they

turned you over and scored on down 3. Give a sarcastic “Boo

Hoo… what do I do now?”, and then smile menacingly – it’s

that’s appeared in your front line. More importantly, most

coaches will probably have a player with Kick so will be

putting the ball deep in your backfield, usually in the corner.

Which means you’re going to have to move it a long way toscore – and that means protecting the ball carrier for a long

time.

When you’re on offence the first few turns of the first half are

critical against agile teams (Wood Elves & Skaven in

particular). Your main aim is to take out their key players

(Wardancers/Gutter Runners) as quickly as possible. Oh…

and stop them from getting the ball off you – yep there’s a

ball… must remember that.

The initial couple of turns after the kick-off when you first

grab the ball is when the agile teams have their best chance

to score against you. Now you may think that by playing deep

with as many players as possible you reduce the chances of

having the opposition steal the ball. It doesn’t quite work

that way as the more players you pull back the weaker your

front line and the harder it will be to push forward once you

have the ball.

Take a look at the sample formation: ‘Da Grappla’:

BO BO

L L BL

BL BL

T T

L

BO

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all going to plan (you did take out those Wardancers/Gutter

Runners/‘danger men’ right?).

Now when you receive the next kick the agile player may try the same trick again, but with several key players missing it

should be easy for you to brush them aside and grind

downfield to equalise at the end of the half.

If by some chance your agile opponent doesn’t play the ‘sack

the ball carrier quick tactic’, all the better. Gather the ball into

a protective cage and slowly batter your way through his

team. Even if he rolls back from your line (only giving you a

blitz each turn) make each blitz hurt, target his specialist

players. The low AV of agile teams means that with a

concentrated effort in the first half you can leave your

opponent with not much more than linemen in the second

half.

On defence against agile teams use either a Blitzer or some

Goblins to put pressure on their thrower deep in his own

backfield, but concentrate the majority of your effort on

clearing out the potential receivers he will try to rush

through your lines. If this is the second half then he should

struggle to work his players through – you’ve already

battered his best players (see above). If it’s the first half then

apply the tactics I’ve already mentioned and target the

‘danger men’. Don’t worry too much about conceding an

early TD.

Versus High AV, Low AG

Games against the High AV, low AG teams are going to be

tough. It’s going to be a toe-to-toe slugfest, make no mistake,

so how can you come out the winner?

PLAYBOOK HIGHLIGHT – DA CAGE

There are many ways to protect a ball carrier in apocket or cage but I’ve found the most versatile and

some would say most effective way is:

This maximises the

level of potential

assists you can give

the ball carrier

should your

opponent get into a

position to block

him (also if they

knock him over he’ll

fall into a square

covered by the

tackle zones of two of your players so the ball might

still be ‘safe’). More importantly, it only uses four

players to do so, leaving the rest of your team to fight

a route downfield to the opposite End Zone, create a

screen or ‘outer ring’ around ‘da cage’, or generally

get on with duffing up the other team.

Once again the basic rule of targeting their key players

applies. Most hard-hitting teams have a proportion of players

with AG2 (or less) this makes the AG3 players critical for

moving the ball (Dwarf teams only have a maximum of four players that have AG3 available!). So the number one priority

is to take out the opposite team’s potential ball carriers.

Obviously they’re going to be thinking the same about your

team so protect your Thrower(s), his Sure Hands skill could

make the difference in grabbing the ball out of a midfield

meatgrinder when your team starts to ‘dook it out’ with

theirs.

If you’re playing with a ‘fighty’ team on offence, the motto is

“do it to them before they do it to you”. Slap ’em down with

the Black Orcs (Mighty Blow and Piling On are useful skills

for these games). Try to channel your running play towards

the side of the field so that you can start to shove players into

the crowd – it’s easier to clear your opponent’s lines (no

need to roll to beat their Armour). If you’re playing with a

cunnin’ team then these are the games in which to utilise

your ‘Passing play’ option. Use your Goblins as receivers and

work them deep into your opponent’s half. While this is

going on use the rest of your team to push for a running TD.

This keeps the pressure on your opponent as he has to split

his defence against two potential scoring tactics. If the

chance arises for a short TD pass to a Goblin then take it!

On defence against running plays you need to try to reducethe amount of damage your opponent does to you while

maximising the effectiveness of your own attacks. To do this,

play a ‘roll back’ defence. This means you try to only give

your opponent a Blitz action with which to block your

players. You use your team to tie up the area in front of your

opponent’s team with tackle zones while working a Blitzer or

two into a position to pressure the ball carrier and hopefully

make an attempt at sacking him. If you’ve got a Goblin, send

him into a scoring position to annoyingly wait for a TD pass

if you pop the ball loose. This can cause you opponent to get

nervous and send a player to deal with him weakening his

advancing line. Sure you’ve both got one player out of the

main action, but your Goblin could be a game winner.

DEVELOPING YOUR TEAM –

SKILLS AND ADVANCEMENTS

Over the course of a league you’ll need to fill out your

roster (and replace the inevitable losses). Fighty teams

should grab a Troll, an extra Black Orc and another Blitzer

as their next purchases. Cunnin’ teams should go for

Blitzers before Black Orcs as they keep the overall MV of

your team higher, enabling more flexible play options. A

second Thrower would also be wise. Of course, the

addition of an Apothecary is a must whichever type of

team you’ve chosen.

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With regards skills here are a few suggestions:

Black Orcs: Mighty Blow, Block, Piling On, Guard.

I favour Mighty Blow over Piling On because with an MV of 4

I prefer my Black Orcs on their feet. However, if I have a full

roster I’ll have both scattered throughout my team.

Blitzers: Tackle, Strip Ball, Sure Hands, Mighty Blow.

I tend to develop a couple of Blitzers into defensive players

(Tackle/Mighty Blow) and a couple into offensive players

(Tackle/Sure Hands). Strip Ball is useful in the early stages of

a league when the number of players with Sure Hands is

quite low, but tends to be less effective as a league

progresses.

Throwers: Block, Accurate, Safe Throw, Hail Mary Pass.

Linemen: Tackle, Block, Dirty Player, Kick, Leader, Pass

Block.

I concentrate on keeping the proportion of Tackle and Block

in the team at a high level, but also use Linemen to

incorporate the useful, unusual skills into my team.

Goblins: Catch, Sidestep, Diving Catch, Sure Feet, Nerves of

Steel.

Troll: Block, Pro, Piling On, Break Tackle.

A quick word about rolling doubles – Stand Firm is a great

Trait and if you can get it on a couple of Blitzers or Black

Orcs then do it! These players can then be used to help

‘refuse’ the wide zones when you’re on defence (see the

box). Strong Arm for a Thrower can help cause all sorts of

problems to an opponent who thinks the Orc throwing

game is restricted to short passes. Jump Up is really usefulfor Goblins (especially if they’ve survived falling over after

a Throw Team-mate play).

PLAYBOOK HIGHLIGHT :

REFUSING WIDE ZONES

Refusing a wide zone is when you have a player or two

that can halt your opponent’s advance down one of

your flanks.

Agile teams use players with the Side Step skill to put

tackle zones into places you don’t want them, and this

can really mess with your attempts to punch a hole in

their line. Strength teams, like Orcs, use Stand Firm to

‘hold position’. If your opponent tries to push your

players out of the way to create gaps for receivers to

run through into your backfield, Stand Firm stops

your guys from being moved. This helps to refuse the

wide zone.

If you can do this on both flanks you can force your

opponent to play down the middle of the field, which

is just what your Orcs, particularly the Black Orcs,

want to happen…

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TOURNAMENT PLAY

A quick word about playing with Orcs in tournaments.

Tournament rules vary from event to event, but one thing

that seems to exist in the majority of them is some form

of skill selection. This is often restricted to one skill per

player so with this in mind I’d suggest the following:

Blitzers – Tackle, (one with Strip Ball if Star Players are

allowed), Black Orcs – Mighty Blow (keeps them on their

feet while helping to cause more damage).

After that it depends on what line-up you prefer –

Accurate and Catch for a Thrower/Goblin combo, Piling

On or Block for a Troll – whatever suits your play style and

the environment that you’ll be playing in.

SUMMING UP

Some people say that Orcs are one of the easiest teams to

play with, and at the beginning of a rookie league I’d

agree. But to do well in the long run you need to develop

a team that can keep up with the pace as agile teams

become TD machines and Strength teams become

casualty generators. Doing this with an Orc team is the

mark of a good coach. How you go about this depends on

the environment of your own league, but hopefully this

article will have given you some useful tips to keep you in

amongst ’em at the top, and help you have some fun along

the way.

Author

Further

Information

Website

Carl Brown was one of the

original play testers for the third

edition of Blood Bowl. He is also

the first and only coach of

(in)famous Orc team,

Da Deff Sqwad.

The Orc team is available from

all good GW stockists. The entire

Blood Bowl range is available from Games

Workshop Direct (see the How to Order section for

more details).

www.BloodBowl.com

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Fanatic 05 - Orc Playbook